The past is never past for South Carolina’s Jim Clyburn but, rather, it’s his burden to carry and what makes him a conscience for the future — and President Barack Obama.

“Irrespective of what we may think we are, we can be no more or no less than what our experiences allow us to be,” the Democratic congressman said in his Capitol office. “Once again, the glass is half full or half empty. Where [Obama] sees in many instances the glass being half full, a lot of black people with my experiences think the glass is half empty.”

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POLITICO 44

With Washington talking “trillions” in budget cuts, this minister’s son is preaching “tithing” — targeting 10 percent of what remains to historically poor counties across the nation. And when House Democrats fell into a destructive game of musical chairs after losing power in November, it was Clyburn — born in the segregated South — who broke the cycle by stepping aside to allow a young Hispanic from the West Coast, Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), to hold onto his seat at the leadership table.

The gold letters now on his door — “assistant leader” — carry less heft than the Democratic whip title he once held and coveted. But in truth, Clyburn has always moved at a higher plane, precisely because of his past and the insights it gives him.

Segregation left its mark in the form of the protective reserve that he taught himself to adopt to survive. “I was not born this way,” Clyburn said. But he also came out of the experience with a remarkable ability to study and reach out to different personalities. “I fish in many ponds” is his trademark coalition motto, with a set of extended family relationships from the South and across racial lines.

“Not a single thing that I had on in that jail that day did I put on my body again,” Clyburn once told this reporter, describing the wrenching emotions after a famous 1961 protest, five months before Obama was born. John West, an early progressive among South Carolina governors, tapped the young man for his staff — and soon taught him his first lesson in the glass “half full/half empty” analogy. And in more than 17 years as South Carolina’s Human Affairs Commissioner, Clyburn also developed lasting friendships with conservative Republican Govs. James Edwards and the late Carroll Campbell.

“People always marveled at the fact that Carroll Campbell and I got along so well,” Clyburn said. “Carroll Campbell was as partisan as anybody could be, but I always allowed for his background experience, which I studied. He was a very poor kid who did not get his education in the normal flow of things. … I think Carroll Campbell finished college after he came to Congress. … He was an astute businessman and made money, and I always knew that. And we allowed for that in our relationship.”

All of this comes full circle now, given the genuine fiscal crisis facing Washington and the deep political divide between Obama and Republicans in Congress. Clyburn, an important ally for the president in the 2008 campaign, is being pulled back into the middle as one of six House and Senate lawmakers charged with trying to find a compromise to avert a default late this summer.

“The discussions are sobering,” he said of the so-called Blair House — some say “Bleak House” — group that met Thursday with Vice President Joe Biden. “But I tell you what. I am going to give it my best shot. I’m not going to sit there as some bump on the log, and I’m not going to be knee-jerk in my reaction to it.”

Why is the Southside of Chicago so different then the Northside of Chicago?

And West LA doesn't look anything like East LA

Would would "think" that all these cities being Deep Blue One Party cities for decades that they would be "shinning cities on a hill"............... I mean after all you don't have those racist Republicans in control pushing people around and consigning poor people to certain parts of the city, right?

Who out there can explain the massive "segregation" that still exits in 2012 in America's Deep Blue One Party cities?

Clyburn flat out lied about being spat upon during the health care legislation march. How much of his past is he lying about also? Any person who will make up facts so freely knowing full well that it can be easily disproved cannot be trusted to tell the truth under any circumstances. He is a relic of the past, propped up by a gerrymandered district of illiterate fools.

In an effort to preserve our economy, is Rep. Clyburn (D-SC-6) willing to return his $110 million project “Bridge to nowhere” included in the so-called ”stimulus”? Oh, I know he will say only $79 million; however with his specifications requiring “Labor Union” contractors and labor, the cost will increase to at least $110 million for his “Bridge to nowhere”. Under this giveaway project, you will see more taxpayers’ costs for Labor Union donations to Rep. Clyburn campaign, and other radical left-wing liberal Democrats.

Clyburn is the essence of an old time wheeling and dealing, good 'ol boy, race-card-dealing pol. He slimed the Clintons with false charges of racism during the 2008 primary to help the candidacy of Obama.

Dems like to see themselves as progressives but many of their policies have kept black down: busing keeps cities segregated, welfare keeps poor inner city people exactly where they are, Pell grants keep college prices out of reach and public housing keeps the poor tethered to each other. It astounds me that the same rhetoric goes around again and again yet we have little improvement. Is it because we are a racist nation or because the politicians keep telling us we are, spout their lies just to get elected, and we believe them to allieviate guilt? The world is a tough, paradoxical place but putting one's head in the sand is no way to resolve anything.

He certainly did not have qualms about using the race card to become part of the demoncrat leadership of the house. Along with that designation he was able to command a chauffeur to transport his body around DC. When you are black,that race card is never too far away to use in emergencies.